Landless protesters ransack GM eucalyptus nurseries

Members of the Landless Movement (MST) staged today (Mar 5) a protest against the commercial release of a genetically modified strain of the eucalyptus tree. According to MST, approximately a thousand women occupied a research unit in the city of Itapetininga, São Paulo state, where FuturaGene and Suzano Celulose develop the genetically engineered species.

Activist Camila Bonassa, who took part in the demonstration, said that a number of nurseries with growing GM eucalyptus seedlings were ransacked.

In Brasília, activists occupied the offices of the National Technical Commission for Biosecurity (CTNBio), where a meeting was be held on the release of the genetically modified H421 strain. Scientists declared it would show higher productivity and would be used in the wood industry.

According to MST, the GM eucalyptus tree consumes more water than natural plants and represents a risk to the production of honey in Brazil. Movement leaders argue that most of the honey is produced from eucalyptus, and that the introduction of the GM strain could cause bees to produce contaminated honey. That could lead to the constraints on Brazil's honey in the global market, not to mention possible health risks to both consumers and bees.

“The genetically modified eucalyptus has not been released anywhere in the world; Brazil would be the first country to do it, as a sort of Guinea pig,” Camila Bonassa argued. She believes the demonstration at the FuturaGene's research unit is a way to draw people's attention to the the country's food production. “It's an act in defense of food sovereignty and the production of healthy food,” she noted.

Agência Brasil tried to reach FuturaGene, Suzano Celulose and CTNBio, but received no responses up to the publication of this article.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira